LEWIS, John Henry

John Lewis was the son of William and Maria Lewis of Hope House, South Street, Brierley Hill. He was a glassmaker at Messrs. Stevens and Williams Ltd. and was a member of the Albion Street Congregational Young Men’s Class. He volunteered for the Staffords Territorials and joined the 1/5th Battalion. They went to the Western Front in May 1915 and fought in the last phase of the Battle of Loos in the struggle for the Hohenzollern Redoubt on the 13th October. They suffered great losses and the experience was repeated on the 1st July 1916 on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme at Gommecourt. In 1918 they faced the first German Spring offensive at Bullecourt near the Hindenburg Line and again suffered heavily before moving to Artois. They were still there in August engaged in raids, patrols and sniping. Private John Lewis was seriously injured and taken to a dressing station at Béthune where he died on the 11th August. He was 23 years of age and is buried in Fouquières Churchyard Extension Cemetery (IV A 10) and commemorated on the Brierley Hill and Brierley Hill church Memorials.